The information below supplements handouts in members packets. 1. Welcome and Introductions Beth Giesting, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Primary Care Association, opened the meeting at 10:00 AM and welcomed the twenty-eight attendees. 2. Featured Information: Pilot Project Updates a. Kalihi-Palama The pilot was moved from Kokua Kalihi Valley to Kalihi-Palama Health Center effective December 1, 1999. Lucy Ndirangu and Bob Hashimoto were recently hired as the coordinator and outreach worker respectively. They have met with principals from nine of the area's twenty-two schools and are also organizing outreach with WIC and Head Start. Lucy noted the area has immigrant children who do not currently qualify. b. Big Island On 29 November 1999 Toddy and Barbara met with the public health nurse supervisors who have been very helpful with distributing information to school health aides and referring families. Toddy is also coordinating with school and mobile van outreach. Terri elaborated on sovereignty issues and rural outreach. Care-A-Van will provide statistics to improve outreach to children not in school. A major problem is lack of Medicaid dental providers and capped QUEST dental providers. This means children go without prevention and early care. A Big Island dental task force is looking at solutions. Carolyn Gire stated that dentists will sometimes withdraw care if a client misses an appointment and other dentists will then not take that client. Chuck Duarte explained Medicaid enrolled children could be treated on Oahu by DOH. 3. Task Force Updates a. Media and Public Information Carolyn Gire explained HMSA's new Children's Health Plan that starts 1 April 2000. There has been good interest: six hundred packets were mailed and approximately 40 applications have been received with checks attached. There will be limited advertising closer to implementation, including newspaper advertisements and bus posters. People can call 948-6422 (Oahu) or 1-800-618-4672 (Neighbor Islands toll-free) for more information. There is no requirement regarding preexisting conditions, however the benefits are limited and HMSA will monitor if there is a continually sick child so they can advise better coverage. Due to CHIP's crowd out provision, Med-QUEST is working with HMSA to have families deselect their children from HMSA's Childern's Plan if they will be eligible for CHIP. There is concern about Med-QUEST referring callers to HMSA without explaining about the impending CHIP. Med-QUEST has not had their CHIP amendments approved by HCFA therefore they cannot give out information on it-not even if a child is denied due to excess income. b. Identification and Outreach Please see handout. c. Evaluation The baseline data being collected is for children only. Med-QUEST has been very helpful in supplying approval and denial information, including reasons for denial. d. Process Simplification The next state coalition meeting will feature show-and-tell of the CyberCom project. Barbara submitted an electronic signature proposal to HCFA and was informed it is state flexibility to accept electronic signatures. The home page, subpages, and programming are underway. The task force will continue to work on strategies to overcome barriers. Outcomes and indicators are being finetuned based on available data. Barbara, along with Pearl Tsuji and Diane Tachera from Med-QUEST, will attend a Covering Kids Regional Meeting on 23-24 February focused on our application, redeterminations, closures, agency linkages, and immigration issues. They will follow up with the task force at the 3 March meeting. Med-QUEST, Boost4Kids, and Hawaii Covering Kids are cosponsoring an enrollment conference for community members who help clients with applications. e. Training and Public Education Videotape production begins 1 May with Leah Kihara at Olelo Community Television. Community advocates will be asked to preview the scripts prior to filming. 4. Announcements a. CHIP will expand QUEST and Medicaid Fee-For-Service to children in families up to 200% FPL. A chart was provided in the packet, although the monetary units are updated yearly in March. The state sent an amended plan to HCFA requesting crowd out be increased to six months. b. HSPCA will be getting a donation of approximately 35,000 preschool books for Reach Out and Read programs at their health centers. Extra copies may be available to other organizations. Call Charlene Blair at 536-8442 by 29 February if you are interested. 5. Next Meeting The next meeting is Thursday, 4 May at 1:30 PM via videoconference at Kapiolani Community College, Maui Community College, University of Hawaii at Hilo, and Kauai Community College. 7. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM.